


Thicker than Water

by PrecariousSauce



Category: Tekken
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-16
Packaged: 2018-01-15 22:26:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1321483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrecariousSauce/pseuds/PrecariousSauce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anna takes a chance on blood one more time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thicker than Water

**Author's Note:**

> God bless you non-kinky kink meme requests you let me write stuff like this

In the beginning of the fifth tournament, Anna Williams had ignored almost every fight she wasn't a part of. Anything that didn't lead directly into her fight with Nina was irrelevant. She'd only spared the other competitors a passing glance before going back to tapping her foot, twirling her knives, and wondering when the hell they were going to throw her or Nina into the ring.

But one passing glance made Anna do a double-take; a match up between Lei Wulong and someone she'd never seen before, a young boxer by name of Steve Fox. She'd stared at Steve's face on the screen, eyebrows furrowed and hand rubbing at her mouth- a habit she'd had since childhood, something she did whenever she was deep in thought.

The young man's face was incredibly familiar, almost frighteningly so. Anna had a gnawing feeling for the rest of the tournament that she should know why he looked so familiar, but she was able to beat it back, ignore it.

Until she finally went up against her sister.

It snapped into focus right then- Steve Fox looked like Nina. It was especially evident when he scowled, his face a dead ringer for what might as well have been Nina's permanent expression. Anna liked to think she lost that fight with Nina not because she was less skilled, but because she kept dwelling on the resemblance.

It was uncanny, too much so to be a coincidence. Nina kept her at arms length, and whenever Anna got close Nina preferred fisticuffs to conversation, so asking her about it was impossible. It slithered down to the base of Anna's brain, squirming around as Anna went on with her life.

It snapped back into focus once again after she'd gone back to work with Kazuya and G-Corp, at a time she didn't expect. 

They'd very recently had one of their executives killed- the head of their research and development department, one Emma Kliesen. Anna had only paid as close attention as she needed to before the assassination, but her ears perked up in the aftermath, when Kazuya mentioned her being a former researcher for the Mishima Zaibatsu during the time she and Nina had been in cryosleep. The reason they'd gone after her was because she'd created a human subject compatible with the Devil Gene, but smuggled him out of the Zaibatsu's grasp and hid him away. And this subject, thanks to in vitro fertilization, was Nina's biological child.

Anna had immediately requested access to all the information they had on the subject. Kazuya complied, but he gave her a look- the same uncomprehending look he gave her twenty years ago when she asked to be put into cryosleep with Nina. It wasn't his fault, he was a Mishima; they simply didn't understand what family was supposed to be.

She used G-Corp's resources, did her own research, pored over it all for hours on end when she was supposed to be working and made a few leaps of logic along the way, but Anna connected the dots. 

Emma Kliesen's subject was Steve Fox. 

Steve Fox was her sister's son, her nephew. Her family.

She took a moment to indulge her inner patriotic Irishwoman for the first time in years and lament that he'd been raised in England.

But then, she sat there, rubbing at her mouth as she pondered what to do next. She could tell Kazuya, and they would take Steve dead or alive so they could decode the fruits of Emma's research. Kazuya didn't know the meaning of the world "gentle"- doubtless Steve would go through experimentation and torment worse than anything the Mishima Zaibatsu had done.

No. Kazuya was her boss and her friend, one of the only ones she had, but she couldn't do that to Steve.

But she had to do _something_. Just sitting around holding this information and sitting on her hands wasn't enough for her. She rubbed at her mouth for a while longer before an idea struck her. She didn't stop to think, instead leaping into it and praying it would work.

* * *

Steve Fox gnawed on the inside of his lower lip as he left the main boulevard and began snaking his way through the dark, dank back alleys- honestly, he should have been more cautious about this. He should have told Lei about this, or Paul or Marshall or really anyone so that he wasn't walking into what could be a trap all alone with nobody to yank him out of the fire. 

But if there was even a chance in hell that message really _had_  come from Nina, he had to take this leap, and he had to do it alone. He'd been chasing her shadow ever since the fourth tournament, unable to keep his mind off of the mother he knew for only a few minutes- he knew blood didn't make a family, the Mishimas were the shining example of that. But he just couldn't stop himself from listening for her name, doubling back when he thought he saw it written, turning when he thought he saw her on the street.

He was almost there- one more alleyway and he'd either run into his mother or an ambush. He honestly wasn't sure which made him more nervous. But when he was about to duck into it, Steve paused at the sound of high heels on metal. 

Behind him he heard a woman's voice sigh, "I guess I was right."

Steve turned around to the source of the voice, a dark-haired woman standing on the lowest fire escape on the building. The first thing he had to wonder was how she managed to sneak up on him while wearing a bright red qipao and heels. The second was where he'd seen her before; if he had to guess, he might have skimmed over her face when looking over the King of Iron Fist 5's roster of fighters, but it was something more than that. The shape of her face, particularly her nose, felt familiar. Her smile trying so hard to be collected and a tad mischievous looked both foreign and fitting on her. Pieces of her called out to him, but he couldn't quite put them together.

Steve frowned a bit and asked, "Right about what?" 

She laughed, the sound rich despite a waver of concealed nerves, before replying, "Well, what reason would _you_  have to respond to that message if Nina wasn't your mother?"

His eyes went wide; "How did you-?" Steve snapped his mouth shut. Of _course_  he had to blurt it out like an idiot and confirm it for her. His mind started racing and wouldn't stop no matter how hard he tried, dreaming up every terrible thing that could happen from here. He knew it it _knew_  it he was an idiot to come out here alone would she kill him or would she take him hostage and do worse whatever horrible thing happened it was all his-

The woman gracefully leapt down from the fire escape and began walking towards him as she said, "Sorry, Steve, but you've been had. Nina didn't send you that message- I did."

Steve ever so slowly began to back away from her; "Who are you?"

She stopped, leaving two yards of distance between them; "My name is Anna Williams."

Steve's eyebrows shot up and he froze in his tracks. After a second he echoed, "Anna _Williams_?"

Anna nodded; "Yeah. I'm Nina's sister."

Steve blinked a few times as things calmed down in his mind; "So… You're my aunt."

Anna crossed her arms over her chest and chuckled, "Yes, that's how it works." Steve nodded slowly, eyes drifting to focus on the ground as he couldn't keep his shoulders from slumping.

Anna raised an eyebrow; "Lemme guess, you wish I was my sister. It's alright, lots of people do." 

Steve looked back up with a start; "What? No, no, that's not it-"

Anna put her hand up to stop him; "No, I get it. You wanted to see your mom, I understand."

Steve looked away; "Well, I just… I've never even had a real conversation with her. I just sort of hoped…"

"You hoped she actually did give a damn about you," Anna finished. "I can't say I don't relate- I grew up with her and even I don't know what goes on with her. I don't know if she really gives a damn about much of anyone."

Steve sighed, rubbing at his mouth. Anna had to suppress a smile when she saw that.

"That's… not very comforting," Steve muttered, more to himself than to Anna. Anna could only shrug.

Steve looked back up at her; "Why did you contact me like this?"

Anna bit her lip, worrying it with her teeth for a moment before she replied, "Long story short, if I contacted you any other way you'd be in danger-"

"That's not what I meant," Steve cut in. "I meant _why_  did you contact me? Why did you want to meet me?"

Anna blinked a few times; why _did_  she contact him? It had been an instinctual gut reaction, an idea she leapt into the second she got it. Her reasoning had been something arcane and esoteric even to her. She rubbed her mouth as she puzzled it through. Steve's eyes widened just a fraction when her hand flew up to her mouth- they really _were_  related.

After a while, Anna looked Steve in the eye, gave a loose shrug and said, "I don't know. Maybe the same reason you came looking for Nina. I… Nina's not much in the way of family. Whenever I see her, we just end up fighting. But… it felt wrong not knowing a little bit about what my sister's kid was like. Does that make any sense?"

The ghost of a smile spread across Steve's face; "No, I… I get it."

Anna nodded, letting a chuckle bubble out of her; "Good, good, now I feel vindicated." 

"Glad I could be of service," Steve said, chuckling a little himself. Anna smiled at her nephew for a while longer, basking in the warmth of silence. When he smiled, he looked less Nina, more like her.

Her smile fought to stay on her face as she came back into the moment and sighed, "I'm sorry, but… I can't stay much longer. I'd love to spend more time with you, but if I do…" Anna paused, then shook her head, "Basically, it wouldn't be pretty. I have to run."

Steve's smile fell and his shoulders slumped; "… I see. Well… It was good meeting you."

Anna nodded and turned on her heel to leave, but stopped after only two strides. This couldn't be how she ended this. And since when had danger ever bothered her? Steve was strong, maybe even stronger than her, but she couldn't just leave like this and expect him to be fine…

Anna smiled and turned back to him, closing the distance between them; "Actually, you know what? Screw it. I've gotta run now, but listen, Steve- if you ever need my help, or hell if you ever just want my company…" 

Anna reached down into one of her knife holsters and pulled out a pen, taking Steve's hand and scribbling out a phone number on it before beaming at him; "I'm a phone call away." 

Steve blinked a few times, speechless, and Anna took the opportunity to give his shoulder a squeeze; "Even if Nina doesn't care about you, I certainly do. You don't have to go it alone."

Steve could only stare at her, eyes wide as they could go in complete surprise. A part of him noted how sad it was that hearing something like this was so foreign to him, but a bigger part of him smiled far wider than he'd planned.

"Thank you," he whispered. Anna gave his shoulder another squeeze before turning on her heel, running back up the fire escape and disappearing over the top of the building. Steve stood there for a while longer, eyes fixed on where his aunt had been. 

It was still strange to think of her that way, but it was something he planned on getting used to.

The last time he truly felt like he wasn't alone was when Emma had been watching over him. And for the first time in years, he felt some of that same warmth coming back.


End file.
